Lennox Lewis vs the great HW's of the 70's, 80's, and 90's

Lewis didnt beat Vitali, anyone that watched that fight knows who the better man was that night. I just wish they could of had a rematch, but Lewis didnt want to have another war with Vitali.

Holyfield Beat a prime bowe in 93, anyone that wacthed Bowe at that time would agree, he was one hell of great fighter at that time, it was a couple years later, that his weight and other issues started to effect his abilities in the ring.

 

You could include Larry Holmes though, kd twice by second raters Snipes and Shavers and in both cases would be waved off by most referees today and definatley would have been stopped by the ref from the Lewis McCall fight. Here is Holmes going down and wobbliing around afterwards, even staggering away from the ref at the actual count of 10 in each case.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_LijnCa33Uw

 

Yeah, I think that's a big part of it. And also, a lot of fans seem to buy into the Lewis mythology - the endless excuses for his getting starched twice by second-raters and for not fighting ANY of the other three top guys in his era when it mattered (and not fighting Bowe at all). You would be hard pressed to find a fighter where so many excuses need to be made for the glaring deficiencies in his career.

 

I think he's 50-50 with Foreman.

Ali beats him.

He beats all the others, especially Frazier. Bad match-up for Joe.

 

TKO rd 6 !!!!!
A prime Bowe! so tell us who else Bowe ever beat other than Holyfield for Holyfield beating him to mean as much as you suggest.

 

I know what the result of the fight was, but did you hear the fans chanting Vitali's name when the fight was over? I think Lampley put it best when he said " Lewis won the fight, Vitali won the event'. I thought Vitali got a raw deal, Lewis' was beaten man that night and he knew it, which led to his retirement from the sport.

Bowe was extremely skilled, and if you want to give Lewis credit for beating Vitali, then Bowe deserves credit for beating Golota twice right? Bowe beat a good fighter in Larry Donald, who was a very underrated boxer.

 

Bowe was, in fact, probably the most naturally talented of the four top HWs of the era, and at his peak - which is when Holyfield fought him - better than ANYBODY Lewis fought, when he fought them.:yep

The prime version of Bowe gets greatly underrated today because he was such an under-achiever.

 

For all the Lewis is the greatest fans. Let's look at it this way. Lewis has to fight them all: Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, Holyfield, Tyson, & Bowe. All the fighters including Lewis are in top form.

I am not a betting man, but I would bet that Lewis would be KTFO in at least one of these fights. I would also bet that Ali would not get KTFO in any of these fights.

 

You forget that Lennox has a china chin.

Sorry, but Vlad put him to sleep.

 

Zakman. Just want to know your opinion. Why do you think Bowe threw his belt in the garbage can and never fought Lewis? I like Bowe a lot but he just didn't seem to have the champions mentality.

 

I don't think many people are trying to claim he was the all time best but he is certainly alot higher up than the likes of zakman have him. He should also be above the likes of holyfield and tyson on the atg heavyweights list, however on the general all time list holyifeld would be above him for being the greatest cruiserweight of all time and then going on and having a very good heavyweight career.

 

I agree, he was a big man who could box and slug it out with the best of them. He had the ability to fight well both inside and out, and possed good enough power to take you out if he caught you flush, his overhand right was no joke.:yep

 

No, vitali`s face was almost falling off and he was out on his feet at the end of rd 6 unable to punch or defend himself at the bell. He gave a good effort but couldnt beat the oldest heaviest least motivated Lewis that ever stepped in the ring while being at his most motivated and prime condition.

 

You forget that Wlad has a no chin.

 

Basic economics and boxing politics. This crap happens all the time. Newman and Bowe knew they could make more money fighting a gimme defense against Dokes and then taking on Mercer (not Bowe's fault he blew it by losing to Ferguson) and then rematching Holyfield. Trashing the belt would give Lewis a title and then make a unification match worth that much more after they took the other fights. They didn't bank on Ferguson upsetting Mercer, or on Holyfield winning the rematch.